The weekly roster update (4/28) for MLB 08: The Show is out and contains 134 player movements. The highlights of the update are listed below.

RP David Weathers moved from Reds Relief to Reds Minors.
RP Josh Fogg moved from Reds Starting to Reds Relief.
RP Keiichi Yabu moved from Giants Minors to Giants Relief.
SS Adam Everett moved from Twins Position to Twins Minors.
C Paul LoDuca moved from Nationals Position to Nationals Minors.
C Johnny Estrada moved from Nationals Bench to Nationals Position.
2B Kaz Matsui moved from Astros Minors to Astros Position.
3B Mark Loretta moved from Astros Position to Astros Bench.
SP RA Dickey moved from Mariners Starting to Mariners Minors.
CP JJ Putz moved from Mariners Minors to Mariners Closer.
DH Gabe Gross moved from Brewers Position to Rays Position.
CF Tony Gwynn Jr moved from Brewers Minors to Brewers Position.
SS Cesar Izturis moved from Cardinals Position to Cardinals Bench.
C Adam Melhuse moved from Rangers Bench to Rangers Minors.
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia moved from Rangers Minors to Rangers Bench.

SCEA has also gone ahead and listed the most significant aspects of the patch that was recently released.

Resolutions
Walk-off homerun scoring issue
Two-player bullpen issue
Random stat issues
Some stadium oriented collision issues

Enhancements
Minimized gameplay exploits for online play
More / improved player-specific stances and animations.
Minor tuning adjustment to hitting on higher difficulties
Minor tuning adjustment to pitching from the pitcher’s view or with pitch cursor off

I’ve held off writing about the current patch situation for MLB 2K8 throughout the week. My general feeling was that just waiting on the patch isn’t really news. But developments over the past few days warrant some discussion.

March 13th was the day the news came out (via Game Informer) that a patch was in the works to address the poor framerate and Padres franchise roster glitch for the 360 along with a PS3 patch that would only fix Padres issue. Amusingly 11 days later 2K Sports sent out their official press release which was the exact statement that had been made prior. In both cases it was mentioned that the patch was already under technical review and was to be released shortly. So here we are three weeks later and that has yet to happen.

Earlier this week overly eager 2K Sports representatives on their official forum posted information that the patch was going to be released on Monday night. That didn’t happen. Then one actually posted that the patch had gone live with instructions on how to get it on Tuesday morning. It hadn’t. Then it was that the patch release was simply “imminent”. Three days since that period apparently started and still nothing. But things have really been elevated now as they have started blaming Microsoft for a delay. Doing that publicly to a company who they have a business relationship with is irresponsible and inappropriate.

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Earlier today 2K Sports sent out a press release regarding the patches that are being worked on for MLB 2K8. Amusingly it was the very same statement word for word that was given to Game Informer and discussed here 10 days ago. I wonder if that means the “shortly” it will supposedly be available relates to now or when it was originally communicated. As I eluded to when breaking down the statement, 2K was ignoring the PS3 consumers and not addressing the framerate issues while doing so on the 360 side.

Loot-Ninja contacted 2K and received specific confirmation that there is no framerate fix coming for the PS3. The only issues that will be addressed in patches are the framerate for the 360 and the Padres’ roster glitch for both systems. There are no other changes to be expected out of these patches and no others currently in the works.

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Game Informer has gotten official word from Take Two/2K Sports regarding several patches that are currently being worked on for the 360 and PS3 versions of MLB 2K8. Specifically mentioned are the framerate and the Padres’ roster glitch. Lets look at a few parts of the statement that was made with my translation following.

It has come our attention that there are a few technical issues within Major League Baseball 2K8 that may effect gameplay enjoyment for some players.

We shipped a game with full knowledge of serious problems that affect all players.

Specifically, the Xbox 360 update will alleviate reported concerns with the framerate to greatly improve the in-game playability

We know that The Show owns the PS3 so no point in bothering there right?

While a patch for both the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 will correct an error in Franchise mode when playing as the San Diego Padres and attempting to move players to and from their minor league rosters.

These updates are currently undergoing technical review, and will be available to download shortly, free of charge.

Two weeks would be a good estimate. Sorry to anyone who doesn’t have their consoles hooked up to the internet.

It’s good news that patches are coming but still disappointing that the game was released with an immediate need just to get it playing to a satisfactory level. There are probably even more things that will be addressed in the patches that they did not want to list out, but sadly no mention was made concerning the disastrous online play performance or lobby challenges freezing consoles.

While the news has certainly been rough on fans of the College Hoops series this week, there is one positive piece of news for those playing 2K8. Thanks to a posting over at Operation Sports we have the list of what is included in the patch that was released today for the PS3 (the patch has since been released for the 360 as well).

Continue on to view the full list of issues that the patch will address.

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The Online Team Play update for the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 08 was released earlier today. After a premature press release in mid-November and the PS3 version receiving the patch a few weeks ago, the 360 crowd has finally received the ability to play with up to 10 different consoles connected into a single game.

It certainly appears that it will have been worth the wait. Initial reports from the PS3 side have been very positive. There has also been overwhelming enthusiasm towards the OTP in FIFA 08.

Some of the details of Online Team Play:

-The game mode allows for any combination from 1 vs 1 up to 5 vs 5. It can be any combination not requiring the sides to be balanced.

-You can set it to be locked into individual players or you can allow for player switching. You’re only required to be locked into a player if you have four live teammates.

-The CPU will take over any players not being manually controlled.

-Voice communication is available and is isolated so that you are communicating only with your teammates.

Updating the previous posting regarding the release timing of the PS3 patch for Madden 08, I have received word that the patch has finally cleared certification by Sony and will be released in the morning (8th).

This is the same patch the 360 received late in November and addresses the following issues:

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I have received word that the patch for the PS3 version of Madden has nearly cleared certification by Sony. As I noted last week it was looking as though the first full week of January would be a good bet for when it would arrive. That appears to be the case as the expectation is it will be out on Friday or sometime early next week.

This patch, which was released at the end of November for the 360, among other things deals with reducing the high rate of fumbles, improves defensive back reactions, and fixes issues in Franchise mode such as the disappearing free agent pool.

I continue to get emails regarding the second patch for Madden 08 and when it will make its way out for the PS3. I figured it would be helpful to post what is known at this point.

The patch was sent to Sony at the same time it was sent to Microsoft. Apparently Sony had a long line of patches to pass through certification so that is where the holdup is.

Sony’s offices are closed all next week which means that the patch won’t be cleared and sent out until the first week of January at the earliest. There is always the possibility that it shows up next week anyway but it seems unlikely due to the circumstances.

The sixth roster update is also set to be released for both the 360 and PS3. EA is waiting on the PS3 patch to come out first though so both sides will get it at the same time.

Along with the Online Team Play update that allowed for up to 10 players on their own systems in a single online game, the FIFA 08 team was able to address some other issues at the same time. EA sent out the following detailing the specifics.

Creating and delivering the OTP Update took a huge amount of work on the part of the dev team who really believed they could release the new feature for FIFA 08 even after the launch of the game. During all this hard work they found some time to optimise some other areas of the game after reading feedback from the community. Enclosed is the list of issues we were able to fix in the launch of the 5v5 Online Team Play update.

-Fixed rare Ps3 loading crash and/or infinite load.
-FC Toronto is now referred to correctly as Toronto FC.
-Fixed rare issue where player would lose control of free roam player and/or control free roam player from jumbotron view during online loading.
-Fixed issue where user would be prompted and forced to download squad files every time they attempted to play an online game if they had changed the arena player.
-Reduced CPU free kick ability slightly in lower difficulties.